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Astronaut John Herrington, a member of the Chickasaw Nation, became the first Native American to go to space #OTD aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-113).
He took a piece of history to space with him that day - a traditional Chickasaw flute, seen below.
#NativeAmericanHeritageMonth
November is #NationalAviationHistoryMonth! Check out this photo of an XB-70A landing at NASA Dryden (Now NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center) during research testing. At the time it was the largest experimental aircraft in the world, and it could reach speeds of Mach 3, making it the perfect test aircraft for future supersonic flight.
November is #NationalAviationHistoryMonth! Check out this photo of an XB-70A landing at NASA Dryden (Now NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center) during research testing. At the time it was the largest experimental aircraft in the world, and it could reach speeds of Mach 3, making it the perfect test aircraft for future supersonic flight.
"I stopped and looked at it...looked back and up at this beautiful rocket, and thought, “Well, okay buster, let’s go and get the job done.”
Today we remember astronaut Alan Shepard on his #birthday.
On May 5, 1961, Alan became the first American to journey into space aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft. While at NASA, Alan also served as the Chief of the Astronaut Office and as the commander of Apollo 14.
Read his oral history!https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/ShepardAB/ABS_2-20-98.pdf
"I stopped and looked at it...looked back and up at this beautiful rocket, and thought, “Well, okay buster, let’s go and get the job done.”
Today we remember astronaut Alan Shepard on his #birthday.
On May 5, 1961, Alan became the first American to journey into space aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft. While at NASA, Alan also served as the Chief of the Astronaut Office and as the commander of Apollo 14.
Read his oral history!https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/ShepardAB/ABS_2-20-98.pdf
Reverend Nick Miles, Tecumseh Red Cloud, Pamunkey Tribe, performed a traditional Algonquian chant at a naming ceremony for 2014 MU69, a celestial body discovered by the New Horizons mission. The new name, “Arrokoth,” means “sky” and is from the Algonquian Languages, spoken by the Powhatan tribes of the region of Maryland where it was discovered.
#NativeAmericanHeritageMonth
Reverend Nick Miles, Tecumseh Red Cloud, Pamunkey Tribe, performed a traditional Algonquian chant at a naming ceremony for 2014 MU69, a celestial body discovered by the New Horizons mission. The new name, “Arrokoth,” means “sky” and is from the Algonquian Languages, spoken by the Powhatan tribes of the region of Maryland where it was discovered.
#NativeAmericanHeritageMonth
This month in 1572, the brightest naked-eye supernova in more than 400 years was observed around the world in the constellation Cassiopeia. This phenomenon was named "Tycho's supernova" after Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe.
Learn more about the supernova: https://go.nasa.gov/3oCYRzX
This month in 1572, the brightest naked-eye supernova in more than 400 years was observed around the world in the constellation Cassiopeia. This phenomenon was named "Tycho's supernova" after Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe.
Learn more about the supernova: https://go.nasa.gov/3oCYRzX
Happy Birthday to astronaut TJ Creamer! TJ was selected as an astronaut in 1998, and served on the crew of Expedition 22/23, totaling 163 days in space. He was also the first person to ever send a live tweet from orbit, and was selected as a flight director at @NASA_Johnson in 2015!
Today marks the 50th anniversary of Mariner 9 becoming the first spacecraft to orbit another planet!
During its mission, the spacecraft mapped out 85% of Mars' surface, collected data on the composition of the atmosphere, and sent back over 7,000 photos.
Mariner 9's mission officially ended in October 1972, but it remains in orbit until 2022, when it is projected to fall out of orbit and into the Martian atmosphere.
After two delays, the Space Shuttle Columbia launched #OTD in 1981 on STS-2. Today marks the 40th anniversary!
Over the course of two days, astronauts Joe Engle and Richard Truly demonstrated the safe re-launch and return of the orbiter. They verified the combined performance of the entire shuttle vehicle- orbiter, solid rocket boosters and external tank.
Today is also Richard Truly's birthday!
Did you know that NASA actually began as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)? NACA was formed in 1915 to "supervise & direct the scientific study of the problems of flight"
Keep an eye out for more aeronautics history during this #NationalAviationHistoryMonth!
Did you know that NASA actually began as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)? NACA was formed in 1915 to "supervise & direct the scientific study of the problems of flight"
Keep an eye out for more aeronautics history during this #NationalAviationHistoryMonth!
The "NASA and the Navajo Nation" Project
In January 2005, NASA met with leaders of the Navajo Nation to discuss an educational partnership focusing on both scientific and cultural knowledge. This partnership is still active today and includes NASA scientists, Navajo Medicine Men, and both NASA and Navajo educators!
Learn more about this education initiative: https://go.nasa.gov/2YzfVxJ
#OTD in 1961, pilot Robert White became the first person to reach Mach 6! He achieved this impressive feat in the X-15 aircraft.
Image 1: Bob in a special X-15 flight suit in front of the aircraft
Image 2: The cracked canopy glass on right side of X-15 after the Mach 6 flight.
Learn more about Robert White: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/Features/robert_white.html
November is Native American Heritage Month!
Today's feature is Mary Ross, a Native American and member of the Cherokee Nation. She began working for Lockheed Martin in 1941 as a mathematician and was a founding member of Lockheed's Skunk Works program.
In addition to her work with Skunk Works, she helped write NASA's Planetary Flight Handbook Vol. III (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19700019224) for travel to Mars and Venus. After her retirement in 1973, she worked to have more Native Americans in the sciences. In 2019, she featured on a special 1 dollar coin seen below.
Painting: “Ad Astra per Astra” Portrait of Mary Golda Ross, by America Meredith, acrylic on canvas, 30" x 40", 2011, from the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
Coin: Courtesy the US Mint
Amelia Earhart visited NACA (the predecessor of NASA) #OTD in 1928. During her tour of Langley in November 1928, Amelia Earhart had part of her coat sucked into the 11 Inch High Speed Tunnel! This photo was taken on the steps of the Langley Research Building.
Amelia Earhart visited NACA (the predecessor of NASA) #OTD in 1928. During her tour of Langley in November 1928, Amelia Earhart had part of her coat sucked into the 11 Inch High Speed Tunnel! This photo was taken on the steps of the Langley Research Building.
The Galileo spacecraft made a flyby of Jupiter’s second-largest moon Callisto #OTD in 1996. Despite its unassuming appearance, Callisto may have a secret: a salty ocean beneath its surface that could possibly harbor life!
To learn more about Callisto: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/jupiter-moons/callisto/overview/
The Galileo spacecraft made a flyby of Jupiter’s second-largest moon Callisto #OTD in 1996. Despite its unassuming appearance, Callisto may have a secret: a salty ocean beneath its surface that could possibly harbor life!
To learn more about Callisto: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/jupiter-moons/callisto/overview/
Explorer 8 was launched from Cape Canaveral #OTD in 1960. Did you know that due to some difficulties, the mission's data were mostly processed by hand? Don't worry, the satellite still provided scientists with lots of new info about the ionosphere!
Learn more! https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1960-014A
Explorer 8 was launched from Cape Canaveral #OTD in 1960. Did you know that due to some difficulties, the mission's data were mostly processed by hand? Don't worry, the satellite still provided scientists with lots of new info about the ionosphere!
Learn more! https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1960-014A
Expedition 1 docked aboard the International Space Station #OTD in 2000 - marking the beginning of humanity's continuous presence in space! The crew, astronaut William Shepherd and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, spent a little over 4 months in the ISS before returning home to Earth.
Happy Birthday to astronaut Jan Davis! She worked as an aerospace engineer at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center before becoming an astronaut in 1987 and flew on three spaceflights (STS-47, STS-60, and STS-85), logging over 673 hours in space.
In the past our astronauts have celebrated Halloween by dressing up. They have worn all sorts of costumes to space: from superheroes to pirates to their fellow crew members, the sky's the limit!
What are you dressing up as for Halloween?
STS-95 launched #OTD in 1998. Its primary objectives were to conduct science experiments in SPACEHAB, and to bring space pioneer John Glenn back to space after 36 years. At the time of the mission, John set the record for the oldest person to go into space until 2021.
Learn more! https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-95.html
Not afraid to break the ice (plume)!
#OTD in 2015, Cassini performed a flyby of Saturn’s sixth-largest moon, Enceladus. The daring flyby through the moon's icy plume allowed Cassini to obtain accurate measurements of the plume’s composition.
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/12546/deepest-ever-dive-through-enceladus-plume-completed/
Not afraid to break the ice (plume)!
#OTD in 2015, Cassini performed a flyby of Saturn’s sixth-largest moon, Enceladus. The daring flyby through the moon's icy plume allowed Cassini to obtain accurate measurements of the plume’s composition.
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/12546/deepest-ever-dive-through-enceladus-plume-completed/
The North American F-51D Mustang (previously a P-51D) was photographed on Rogers Dry Lake at the NACA High-Speed Flight Station in 1955. it was used as a proficiency aircraft at the High-Speed Flight Station.
Learn more: https://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/P-51/HTML/E55-2078.html
The North American F-51D Mustang (previously a P-51D) was photographed on Rogers Dry Lake at the NACA High-Speed Flight Station in 1955. it was used as a proficiency aircraft at the High-Speed Flight Station.
Learn more: https://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/P-51/HTML/E55-2078.html
Happy Birthday to astronaut Michael Baker! He completed four spaceflights during his career as an astronaut and logged over 965 hours in space. Michael served as pilot on STS-43 and
STS-52, and was the mission commander on STS-68 and STS-81.
Happy Birthday to astronaut Michael Baker! He completed four spaceflights during his career as an astronaut and logged over 965 hours in space. Michael served as pilot on STS-43 and
STS-52, and was the mission commander on STS-68 and STS-81.
!["[T]here’s almost no accomplishment in human history that is really creditable to one person. Once in a while something ...](https://img4.govserv.org/859/950/4647854728599506.jpg)
"[T]here’s almost no accomplishment in human history that is really creditable to one person. Once in a while something happens. Generally what happens is everybody adds a little piece, and I'm happy to have added a bunch of little pieces here, there, and the other place."
Happy Birthday to astronaut Russell L. “Rusty” Schweickart! A research scientist and a fighter pilot, Schweickart was selected as an astronaut in 1963 and served as the lunar module pilot for the Apollo 9 mission.
Read hist oral history: https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/SchweickartRL/SchweickartRL_3-8-00.htm
"[T]here’s almost no accomplishment in human history that is really creditable to one person. Once in a while something happens. Generally what happens is everybody adds a little piece, and I'm happy to have added a bunch of little pieces here, there, and the other place."
Happy Birthday to astronaut Russell L. “Rusty” Schweickart! A research scientist and a fighter pilot, Schweickart was selected as an astronaut in 1963 and served as the lunar module pilot for the Apollo 9 mission.
Read hist oral history: https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/SchweickartRL/SchweickartRL_3-8-00.htm
#OTD in 1671, astronomer Giovanni Cassini discovered Saturn's moon Iapetus. At the time, Iapetus would seem brighter at some points in its orbit and darker at others. This is because Iapetus has a much lower reflectivity on its leading side compared to its trailing side.
#OTD in 1671, astronomer Giovanni Cassini discovered Saturn's moon Iapetus. At the time, Iapetus would seem brighter at some points in its orbit and darker at others. This is because Iapetus has a much lower reflectivity on its leading side compared to its trailing side.
Apollo 7 splashed down #OTD in 1968 in the Atlantic Ocean southeast of Bermuda.
Did you know that the Apollo 7 mission saw the first live TV broadcast of Americans from space?
Learn more about television broadcasting during the Apollo program:https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/ApolloTV-Acrobat7.pdf
Apollo 7 splashed down #OTD in 1968 in the Atlantic Ocean southeast of Bermuda.
Did you know that the Apollo 7 mission saw the first live TV broadcast of Americans from space?
Learn more about television broadcasting during the Apollo program:https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/ApolloTV-Acrobat7.pdf
The 1st known interstellar object to enter our solar system was identified using the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS1 telescope this week in 2017. The object (artist rendering below) was named ‘Oumuamua which is Hawaiian for “a messenger from afar arriving first.”
This photo was taken by one of the Expedition 7 crew members aboard the ISS #OTD in 2003. It shows a Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft as it prepares to dock with the ISS, carrying crew members from Expedition 8.
This photo was taken by one of the Expedition 7 crew members aboard the ISS #OTD in 2003. It shows a Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft as it prepares to dock with the ISS, carrying crew members from Expedition 8.
#OTD in 1947, Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager made history by breaking the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 aircraft!
Learn more about this amazing feat here: https://go.nasa.gov/30mhdwl
#OTD in 1947, Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager made history by breaking the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 aircraft!
Learn more about this amazing feat here: https://go.nasa.gov/30mhdwl
This week in 1984, astronaut Kathryn Sullivan became the first American woman to complete a spacewalk!
During STS-41G, Sullivan and crewmate David Leestma performed a 3-hour extravehicular activity (EVA) that proved the feasibility of refueling satellites in orbit.
This week in 1984, astronaut Kathryn Sullivan became the first American woman to complete a spacewalk!
During STS-41G, Sullivan and crewmate David Leestma performed a 3-hour extravehicular activity (EVA) that proved the feasibility of refueling satellites in orbit.
"The Walt, Wally, and Donn Show!"
Apollo 7 lifted off from Launch Complex 34 at @NASAKennedy this week in 1968. It was the first crewed Apollo flight, carrying astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walt Cunningham into space as they tested the Command and Service Module.
"The Walt, Wally, and Donn Show!"
Apollo 7 lifted off from Launch Complex 34 at @NASAKennedy this week in 1968. It was the first crewed Apollo flight, carrying astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walt Cunningham into space as they tested the Command and Service Module.
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#OTD (on this day) in 1967, the Venera 4 probe was launched into space from the U.S.S.R. This probe provided an atmospheric analysis of Venus and made history by becoming the first to transmit data from another planet's atmosphere.
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (Chandra) was born in India when it was a British Colony. He became one of the foremost astrophysicists of the twentieth century. He was one of the first scientists to couple the study of physics with the study of astronomy. Chandra won the Nobel Prize in physics (shared with William Fowler) for work on understanding the structure and evolution of stars. He spent much of his professional life (from 1937 until his death in 1995) as a professor at the University of Chicago. One of NASA's four "Great Observatories", the Chandra X-ray Observatory, was named in his honor, and launched in 1999. For more information check out https://go.nasa.gov/3dQZG15 and https://go.nasa.gov/3fHSCVX
#HappyBirthday to astronaut Drew Morgan! 🎉 🎉 A graduate of US Military Academy at West Point, NY, Drew was trained as an emergency physician in the U.S. Army. He is currently serving aboard the International Space Station as a flight engineer. Looks like he is having a good time being "pushed around" in space!
At 7:51 am (ET) #OTD 1968, #Apollo8 launched, sending the first humans into a lunar orbit and proving that a Moon landing was within reach for the United States. The close-up views of the Moon and the distant views of the Earth shared by Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders proved to be profound.
Today, we mark the #Apollo50th anniversary of Apollo 12’s remarkable pinpoint Moon landing. At 1:55am (ET) on November 19th, 1969, #Apollo12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Al Bean landed the Lunar Module, "Intrepid", in the Ocean of Storms on the lunar surface. While the preliminary landing site was projected to be 1000 feet (~0.3 km) from #NASA's 1967 Surveyor III lander, Pete Conrad and Al Bean landed just over 500 feet (~0.15 km) away. Pinpoint landing: Check. Next up: Become the third and fourth humans on the Moon.
Today, we remember Dr. Fred Whipple who was born on this day in 1906. Hailing from Red Oak, Iowa, Whipple was an innovator consistently working ahead of his time. He developed the “dirty snowball” model of comets, concluding that there was ice in a comet's nucleus which v***rized into gas and created the distinctive tail of comets. Whipple also developed an idea of how to protect spacecraft from micrometeoroids and orbital debris. He came up with the idea for this Whipple Bumper, or Whipple Shield, in 1946, over ten years before the launch of Earth's first artificial satellite. When Sputnik did reach orbit in 1957, it caught much of the world off guard, but not Whipple. He had already organized the first group of scientists to calculate the trajectories of then-hypothetical space objects, so he and his team were one of the few groups to make useful observations. Whipple continued working into his 90s, becoming the oldest researcher to have an active role on a NASA space science mission at the time. He passed away in 2004. Many of his theories and inventions are still in use today, and his work has been instrumental in shaping our understanding of space technology. go.nasa.gov/2fdOoXh
Water is a key factor in supporting life as we know it and NASA has found water in some of the most amazing places in our Solar System - including Saturn’s tiny ice moon Enceladus (just 505 km in diameter). While NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Cassini spacecraft zipped around Saturn and its moons between 2004 and 2017, some of its most incredible discoveries were about the small, icy world. Enceladus has a subterranean global ocean of liquid salt water! Even more unbelievable, Cassini was able to examine some of that water, in part because of geyser-like jets that spray water v***r into space through fissures in the fractured surface. #OTD in 2015, Cassini took the mission's “deepest dive” through the plumes approaching just 49 km above the surface, transmitting data about the contents of the water. Find out more about Enceladus and the Cassini-Huygens mission: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7510 https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/deepest-ever-dive-through-enceladus-plume-completed https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/science/enceladus/
Today we honor a mission that holds multiple historic firsts for #WomeninSTEM! STS-41G, the 13th Shuttle flight, was the first time in history that two women flew into space at the same time, as its crew included NASA Astronauts Sally K. Ride and Kathryn D. Sullivan. The mission was not Sally Ride’s first rodeo, because she was the first American woman to fly in space (on STD-7 in 1983). But it gets even better! On the 7th day of the flight, October 11th, 1984, Kathy Sullivan became the first American woman to spacewalk! Kathy’s historic EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity), with crewmate Astronaut David C. Leestma, lasted 3 hours and 29 minutes. A wonderful perk of living in the era of video is that we can relive these moments in history. So please enjoy watching Kathy become the first American woman to step out of the “comfort” of the Shuttle into the vacuum of space. Note that Kathy is the spacewalker without red stripes on her spacesuit. This was truly #OneGiantLeap!
It's our birthday! On this day, 61 years ago, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration opened for business. On October 1, 1958, NASA inherited five facilities from the NACA: Lewis Research Center in Ohio, Langley Research Center and the Wallops Station rocket test range in Virginia, and Ames Research Center and the High Speed Flight Station in California. That same day NASA assumed responsibility for space projects and appropriations from other government space organizations. As a result NASA started with a staff of 8,240 people (8,000 from the NACA) and a budget of approximately $340 million. T. Keith Glennan, the president of the Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio, had already been sworn in as NASA's first administrator. He addressed the new NASA employees (formerly of NACA) in this message (delivered on film back in those days).
“I have been telling him for 13 months that I was a candidate for nothing except retirement on my birthday” - NASA Administrator Jim Webb, commenting on his discussion with President Johnson (Audio below) Are you out there dreaming of retirement? Well, this week in 1968, after 7 years of service, NASA administrator James Webb announced that he would be retiring on October 7, 1968, the day of his 62nd birthday. That is why we have chosen to feature his collection as the first in our new series of posts about the items in our NASA Headquarters Historical Reference Collection. Here at the archives we have collections for each one of the NASA Administrators. These collections contain documents, photographs, correspondence, and audio from their time here. Our James Webb Collection fills up 14 and a half boxes that occupy 4 feet, 10 inches of shelf space. The archival material spans from 1939 to 2003, much longer than his time as Administrator (1961-1968) A few interesting tidbits discovered in the collection: -James Webb’s secretary, Nina Scrivener continued to work for him, even after he left NASA. We have correspondence from Ms. Scrivener on Webb’s behalf all the way up to 1990. -James Webb received numerous notes of congratulations for the success of Apollo 8 sent from all over the world. These notes came after he had retired from NASA. - A note from the Administrator who followed him, Thomas Paine, to James Webb written on a copy of Webb’s Oath of Office which says, “ To Jim Webb, who has signed these cards so many hundreds of times. -Tom Paine” For more, see the James E. Webb Administrator Files Finding Aid:https://history.nasa.gov/PDFs/Finding%20aids/Administrators_Deputy%20Administrators/webb_james_administrator_files_finding_aid.pdf
Fifty five years ago #now (9:25 a.m. EDT), Ranger 7 made a crash landing during the first fully successful U.S. mission in our exploration of the Moon. Although crashing into the lunar surface doesn't seem like it should be called a success, it was done by design. Crashing allowed the probe to get close to the surface and transmit detailed photos back to Earth before its preordained demise. In only 17 minutes, from the time its cameras were turned on to impact, Ranger 7 transmitted over 4,000 images from six different cameras. These photos helped us prepare for human missions to the Moon and improved our understanding of the lunar surface. In honor of the probe's achievement, the area it crashed into was named Mare Cognitum, Latin for “The Sea that has Become Known.” Learn more about the Ranger project: https://go.nasa.gov/2SRtu43
Neil A. Armstrong, commander of the Apollo 11 mission to land on the Moon, reflects on the successful mission and his experience in lunar exploration. For more information on the Apollo Program, visit https://www.nasa.gov/specials/apollo50th/
Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent more than two hours outside their spacecraft on the Moon. They studied the surface. They collected rocks. After almost a day, they blasted off. They docked with Michael Collins in orbit around the Moon. For more information on their voyage to the Moon and one small step on the lunar surface for all of mankind, visit https://www.nasa.gov/specials/apollo50th/
"Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." This quote from Neil Armstrong, said 50 years ago #now, is probably his second most famous of the mission. (We bet you can guess the other one...) Both statements were spontaneous, and both prompted deep sighs of relief from Mission Control and millions of spectators around the world. But unlike Armstrong's #OneGiantLeap quote, his partner on the Moon was taken by surprise by the status report. Why was Buzz Aldrin surprised? Well, time was of the essence. If anything had gone wrong during landing, Armstrong and Aldrin had only two minutes to discover the problem and decide whether they would leave the Moon. Any longer, and they would have to wait two hours for the Command Module to orbit back around. Every second counted, but it was at this moment Armstrong chose to announce the poetic name of their base. Both Aldrin and CapCom Charlie Duke knew that the base would be called "Tranquility," but did not know when it would be announced. As a result, Duke became tongue-tied at the simple, but beautiful words that have lived on for the past fifty years. #Apollo50th (GIF courtesy of David Woods and the Apollo Flight Journal)
Thanks to David Woods and the Apollo Flight Journal for the fantastic video "Apollo 11: The Complete Descent." This clip explains the mechanics of how we landed on the Moon. Watch the full video on YouTube to see real footage of the landing, corrected for altitude and pitch angle and complete with audio and subtitles from Mission Control. T-2 hours to touchdown. #Apollo50th
#OTD in 1983, the Space Shuttle Challenger landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, concluding the mission that made Sally Ride the first American woman in space. STS-7 was a six-day shuttle mission during which a number of experiments were conducted and two communications satellites were deployed. The mission, however, is particularly remembered for its historic five person crew: Commander Bob Crippen, Pilot Fred Hauck, Mission Specialists John Fabian, Sally Ride, and Norm Thagard. Ride was one of six women selected in the 1978 astronaut class (nicknamed “the Thirty-Five New Guys") - the first group of NASA astronauts selected since the 1960s, and the first class to include women and minorities. This mission also made Ride the youngest American astronaut to fly in space (32 years old). She still holds the record. In the words of former NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, “Sally Ride broke barriers with grace and professionalism — and literally changed the face of America's space program.”
Today in 2008, the Jason-2 Satellite launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and the Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM) began. OSTM/Jason-2 charts global sea levels with great precision. A detailed record of sea level heights helps us better understand ocean currents, heat absorption, and ultimately, understand sea level rise and climate change over time. The mission is a team effort between NASA and the French space agency, CNES. OSTM/Jason-2 is part of a long-term collaboration with France that continues today with its successor, Jason-3 (launched in 2016). In 2018, the data collected from 25 years of satellite study demonstrated that global sea level rise has been accelerating. Learn more: https://go.nasa.gov/2L10Prp
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